TORONTO - The Toronto Tyrants revealed their MLC jersey at a solemn ceremony at the Air Canada Center on Friday. A rare public appearance by Shania Twain stunned the audience as the country Goddess took the stage to kick things off with the Canadian national anthem. Rogers Communications President and CEO Nadir Mohamed and Air Canada main man Calin Rovinescu then arrived to mount their respective thrones, as an enlarged model of the Tyrants' jersey was seen rising in the background to a tune that was best described by someone in the audience as "destructive and very military".

The two men, clad in sports coats with the MLC and Tyrants' logos etched into them, then took turns to speak about the franchise, its prospects and their expectations for season one.

"As always, the goal is to trump all competition and be the ones that we ourselves want to beat. It is the legacy of the Rogers and it is how Rogers Communication has maintained its status as the number one choice for its customers over decades. Telus has tried, Wind has tried, Koodo has tried, but as a business, we have always managed to kill competitors with the flick of a finger, as if they were mere ants, irrelevant and undeserving of life. I would like to have the same attitude on display for the duration of the season, because being at the top is all that matters", exclaimed a haughty Mohamed.

"Air Canada is proud to be the official sponsor of the Toronto Tyrants. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rogers Communications for giving us an opportunity to establish our superiority over American corporations in yet another domain - that of sports. We have crushed US Airways, AA, Delta and South West and intend to continue our domination in every aspect of business", said Mr. Calin Rovinescu.

Curious eyes then turned to a lesser known figure, that of AsifTheManRahman, recently appointed manager of the Tyrants. Beads of iron across his neck and an iron ring on his pinky, he approached the podium with an air of destruction. "When Kerry Packer lured players into joining the World Series, the world had disbelievers galore. The rebels were the minority and acts of bravery ridiculed. Today, the world is a transformed place, where there is a huge movement towards eradicating sissies and ensuring survival of the fittest. Men like Dilscoop have set the platform and it is now up to us to implement [the plans]".

"Our opponents will be crushed to sawdust, brought down to their knees on the cricket pitch, begging for mercy, blood shooting out of their eyes in place of tears. We shall destroy confidences and careers. We shall stamp our authority on every member - manager, official and player - of every other team, ruling the points table of this league with an iron fist. We shall decide and control the fates of grown men with our batting, bowling, fielding and wicket-keeping. We shall ensure that they expect to lose, that they come to the ground knowing they have no chance".

The general attitude of the franchise meets expectations set earlier by rumours about the Tyrants starting the inaugural season of the MLC with an aggressive campaign. With further adieu, the officials left, one by one, to attend a boardroom meeting to discuss "World domination strategy", as a spokesman put it, at the Rogers HQ on Bloor and Jarvis.

Torontonians' React to Tyrants' Jersey

The streets of downtown Toronto seemed upbeat on Friday afternoon, thanks partly due to the upcoming Simcoe Day long weekend, but mostly in anticipation of the impending MLC victory.

"God save the Queen, the Queen the Queen and Her Tyrants...[and some more that got lost in drivel]", sang a local mounty before he rode off on his horse, clearly intoxicated from the bottle of maple syrup in his pocket.

"L.O.V.E the jersey, but they should have had a vampire and a werewolf instead of a dinosaur on it", said 16 year old Natasha Goyal.

Robin Scherbatsky, a New York resident visiting family in Toronto for the long weekend, was upbeat about the chances of the Tyrants in season one. "I think we will definitely win and having a cool jersey simply propels us towards that direction", she said, before running off in the direction of Dundas Square, humming "Let's go to the mall, TODAY", followed by "Two beavers are better than one".

TORONTO - A heated meeting at Rogers Communication Head Quarters involving Toronto Tyrants executives left CEO Nadir Mohamed's office in a wreck early Monday morning. While the details are unknown, sources present at the time of the ruckus have indicated that the attendees of the meeting were visibly agitated by the MLC's last minute decision to overrule the original draft order.

"This is [bleep]...might as well tell us next week that we have to change our entire coaching staff too. As long as they apologize for it right? How the [bleep] are you supposed to chalk up a plan if they keep changing things as they please? [Bleep] this [bleep]", a furious AsifTheManRahman was quoted yelling at reporters as he stormed out of the building.

Other MLC officials were unavailable to comment.

The MLC recently decided to shuffle the original draft order for teams, a change which saw the Tyrants fall to #14 from #2 on the list.

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
People of toronto want their pick for round 5.

From thestar.com:

Posted 2 minutes ago

TORONTO - The Tyrants surprised with their fifth draft pick at the MLC as they signed little known Afghanistan fast bowler Hamid Hassan in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The move raised many an eye brow as the decision comes at a time when most franchises are focused on hunting down celebrities.

Hassan, known to be the fastest bowler among associate nations, has enjoyed some success at the highest level and was ecstatic about the opportunity. "This is easily the highlight of my career. The culture in the Tyrants' dressing room is very synonymous to the general attitude of the Afghan people - hard working, determined, tough and capable of breaking down any barrier. I will definitely feel at home and look forward to cracking helmets in every game I play."

Tipped to open the bowling alongside speedster Shane Bond, Hassan joins an impressive top order consisting of David Warner, Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli, the Tyrants' previous drafts at the inaugural season of the MLC.

Much has been said in light of Hamid Hassan's surprise draft by the Toronto Tyrants at the MLC. As a Tyrants supporter and well wisher, I for one am over the moon and excited to watch this fiery fast bowler in action at King City.

Having played against Hassan, I can vouch for his ability to steam roll any batting line up on his day. From my experiences batting against world class bowlers in the past, I put him up there alongside the best in the business.

Don't believe me? Let the stats do the talking. Here is where Hassan's T20 bowling career stands right this moment:

Matches

Wickets

Average

Econ

SR

T20I

8

14

12.14

5.82

12.5

T20

16

29

12.27

5.94

12.3

For those in doubt, a couple of his greatest successes in this format have actually come against very decent opposition. Here's a breakdown of his T20I bowling. He has impressed with the limited chances that he has had against India and South Africa, two of the best sides in the world. The sample size is small, yes, but there is no question about his ability.

Equally as important as his pace is the attitude that comes with it. Hassan is an ambassador of Afghan cricket and will be hungry to make a mark at the MLC, the world's greatest stage. He acts, talks and not to mention bowls like a fast bowler and I am confident he will turn out to be one of the best buys of the season.

Ashish Bagai was captain of the Canadian national cricket team until last year. He stepped down from the captaincy in May 2011, but remains a valuable member of the squad.

(Small amount of matches! Those are difficult to rate. But they aren't gonna be as difficult as Mendis. I mean that kid was a genius, his stats are glowing. But we all know how much he's declined over the last couple of years!!)

TORONTO - Toronto Tyrants GM AsifTheManRahman was unimpressed by his team's performance in its MLC Round #2 fixture against the New York Rangers on Thursday. The post match press conference saw a clearly distraught Rahman trying to make sense of some of the decisions made by the players during the game.

"We were well on course to post 220 at one point, but fell ridiculously short", he fumed. "You don't achieve world domination by scoring fifties - when you get there, you convert it to a hundred", he added, clearly dissatisfied by the dismissals of Brandon McCullum and David Warner shortly after each reached his fifty, the joint fastest in the league to date.

"Some of the bowling changes have been atrocious, some of the bowling even worse. We need to go back, have a grueling retrospective session, take a hard look at ourselves and identify what went wrong and why it did. The MLC is bigger than life and mistakes are unforgivable, unless they get fixed and fixed fast".

The Tyrants kicked off their MLC campaign with a victory, defeating the Rangers by 15 runs away from home.

Virat Kohli was on the receiving end of his GM's criticism after the Tyrants' clash with the Rangers on Thursday

Steve Taylor in Tears

Tyrants' US recruit Steve Taylor reportedly broke down to tears after the press conference, when Rahman took the heat to the dressing room.

"I have never played with cricketers who set the bar so high for themselves", he sobbed. "You come from an environment where 20's and 30's against the likes of Mongolia are applauded, yet here you have these guys facing some of the best bowlers in the business, striking fifties at 200, then banging their heads for not being good enough. It's terrifying."

When asked whether he was hopeful of featuring in the main XI, Taylor, who failed to perform in the warm up games, buried his face in his palms, flooding them as he ran back into the dressing room.